Tips & Guidelines for Attending The IT Unconference Remotely

Introduction

As the presence of remote and distributed working teams across campus continues to grow and we prepare for Stanford Redwood City, we are very excited to pilot Zoom attendance at this year’s IT Unconference. Zoom attendance is encouraged for full-time remote employees or those who won’t be able to make it in person.

Three to four Li Ka Shing breakout rooms will be dedicated to providing Zoom access to session talks. Unconference organizers will prioritize talks that wish to have remote participation in the rooms that are equipped for Zoom attendance. Unfortunately we can not accommodate all session talks for Zoom this year, but we will try our best to identify sessions that will provide a positive experience for remote attendees (e.g. presentations that do not require hands on interaction or lots of discussions happening at the same time in a single room).

This year Zoom attendance will be “webinar style” which means all Zoom participants’ microphones will be muted by default and cameras disabled to avoid audio interruptions for the presenters. You will be able to listen to the audio and view any slide presentations via the Zoom screen share. Your questions can be posted in the Zoom chat and a moderator in the room will ask your question aloud to the presenter. You can also chat with other participants via the Zoom chat or Slack channel.

For speakers/presenters: A Zoom moderator volunteer will be assigned at the beginning of each session. The moderator will help ensure your slides are shared on the Zoom channel and any questions in the Zoom chat will be read aloud during your session. The moderator will also repeat (or type) any questions that come from audience members inside the room so Zoom attendees can follow along.

Zoom sessions will also be recorded and posted to the UIT Unconference website.

Tips & Guidelines

Chances are if you are already working remotely full or part time, you have this step covered. But just in case, be sure to login and install Zoom ahead of time so that you can familiarize yourself with the Zoom interface and request support should you run into any issues.

Engage with other online attendees via the Zoom chat. Be sure to change the chat settings to send your messages to “everyone” instead of just the host.